Calendar-like endpapers reveal the ways adults daily say “no” to children, with square after square proclaiming such observances as “When Pigs Fly Day.” Rosenthal provides an antidote to these no’s by instituting an annual “Yes Day,” during which all of a child’s requests are met with adult approval. The child experiencing Yes Day never requests anything truly outlandish or unsafe, making the concept workable, if still a bit daunting to adult readers; Rosenthal’s dedication reveals that Yes Day is a tradition her father celebrates with his grandchildren (which perhaps seems more believable than the parents in the book). The book’s satisfying pacing places questions on recto pages, with pictorial responses depicted at the turn of the page. “Can I clean my room tomorrow?”, for example, is followed on the next page-opening by a picture of a messy child’s bedroom (“Later, mess”). Lichtenheld’s cartoon-style illustrations capture the boy’s delight in each scenario and also provide narrative content when pictures, rather than words, fill in the details of a request’s outcome. Funny and on-target. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: May 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-06-115259-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A particularly soppy, sloppy addition to an already-overstuffed genre.
A bear cub gets a load of lyrical loving from a lumbering parent in this nature walk.
Expressed in stumbling rhyme—“I love you more than trees / love to change with every season. / I love you more than anything. / I cannot name just one reason”—Benson’s perfervid sentiments accompany scenes of bear and cub strolling through stands of birch, splashing into a river to watch (just watch) fish, and, in a final moonlit scene, cuddling beneath starry skies. Foxes, otters, and other animal parents and offspring, likewise adoring, make foreground cameos along the way in Lambert’s neatly composed paper-collage–style illustrations. Since the bears are obvious stand-ins for humans (the cub even points at things and in most views is posed on two legs), the gender ambiguity in both writing and art allow human readers some latitude in drawing personal connections, but that’s not enough to distinguish this uninspired effort among the teeming swarm of “I Love You This Much!” titles.
A particularly soppy, sloppy addition to an already-overstuffed genre. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-68010-022-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
None
Dynamic dinosaur duo Yolen and Teague team up again, this time tackling the touchy topic of table manners. Their signature rhyming text and hilarious illustrations introduce an ensemble of wacky giant reptiles in the end pages and show them engaged in a spectrum of really terrible table tantrums. An orange and purple Cryolophosaurus rudely burps and belches. A ponderous Protoceratops picks at his cereal and throws down his cup. A quirky winged Quetzalcoatlus fusses, fidgets and squirms in his chair in a busy restaurant. An out-of-control pink-and-blue-striped Amargasaurus flips a plate of spaghetti into the air while a spotted Spinosaurus slyly spits out his partially chewed broccoli, a huge Lambeosaurus bubbles his milk and a recumbent Gorgosaurus pokes string beans up his nose. Readers soon discover these gargantuan diners actually have exemplary table manners, suggesting that little dinosaurs everywhere might do well to follow their lead and “eat up.” A humorous, highly palatable read-aloud primer on table etiquette for the preschool dining set. (Picture book. 3-5)
None NonePub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-439-24102-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2005
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